1he Iuture of kead|ng and ub||sh|ng |s Soc|a|

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When Scrlbd launched ln 2007, our goal was Lo make wrlLLen maLerlal as easy Lo publlsh
and dlscover as a blog. So LhaL an auLhor, sLudenL, buslness person or anyone else
wanLlng Lo share Lhelr work could flnd readers - no maLLer who or where Lhey were -
Lhrough Lhe lnherenL efflclencles of Lhe lnLerneL.

AL flrsL, Lhls meanL flgurlng ouL how Lo converL documenLs lnLo web pages and Lhen
geLLlng Lhem lndexed by search englnes so LhaL anyone seeklng lnformaLlon abouL Lhe
laLesL research ln parLlcle physlcs, for example, could easlly flnd Lhe relevanL reporL on
Scrlbd. We've learned a loL over Lhe lasL Lhree years, especlally wlLh our LranslLlon from
a llash Lo P1ML3 readlng experlence.

AL Lhe same Llme, lL became clear early on LhaL we couldn'L rely on search alone lf we
wanLed Lo creaLe a dynamlc readlng experlence. 1o do LhaL, we needed Lo Lap lnLo Lhe
soclal graph, whlch was sLarLlng Lo play an lmporLanL role ln conLenL dlscovery. 1hls has
become even Lruer Loday.

Lven Loday, conLenL recommendaLlons made Lhrough popular soclal neLworks llke
lacebook and 1wlLLer focus prlmarlly on news and shorL-form vldeo, soclal games and
web llnks. And always, Lhe conLenL ls secondary Lo Lhe person maklng Lhe
recommendaLlon. Scrlbd ls focuslng on Lhe conLenL lLself, and lL's obvlous Lhere's a
markeL demand, 83-&9* :%9;;&- :3 ,-%&.) <98 )36.*+) +=+%" 8&> ?++@8 8&7-+ ?+ *967-<+)
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8u||d|ng a Soc|a| Network Around kead|ng
Cver Lhe lasL few years, Scrlbd has Laken several ma[or sLeps Loward maklng wrlLLen
conLenL more soclal" - addlng a feed lnLo Lhe slLe deslgn, lnLegraLlng wlLh lacebook
and 1wlLLer, converLlng documenLs lnLo pages LhaL are easler Lo share Lhrough P1ML3.
ln oLher words, we've made Lhe process of readlng and sharlng long-form wrlLLen
conLenL less one dlmenslonal and more lmmedlaLe and conLexLually relevanL.

1oday, we launched anoLher ma[or slLe redeslgn - one of several over Lhe lasL few years.
Pow ls Lhls one dlfferenL? lL's Lhe flrsL Llme Scrlbd ls llvlng up Lo lLs poLenLlal as a Lruly
soclal slLe for readlng. Pere's why a soclal neLwork around readlng makes so much
sense:

! 1he naLure of lnLeracLlons on Scrlbd ls dlfferenL from oLher soclal neLworks.
eople are more llkely Lo publlsh and more llkely Lo share whaL Lhey're readlng
because LhaL's whaL Scrlbd ls deslgned Lo do well. Aslde from Lhe facL LhaL Lhere
are bllllons of readers ln Lhe world and a llmlLless pool of new conLenL, Scr|bd |s
grow|ng exponent|a||y because |t makes sense that peop|e connect through
common read|ng |nterests (e.g., vamplre fan flcLlon, poeLry, comlc books,
sclenLlflc papers). 1hlnk of lL as mllllons of vlrLual, global book clubs buL for any
Lype of wrlLLen conLenL or sub[ecL maLLer.

! Whlle Lhe ma[orlLy of Scrlbd's 30 mllllon monLhly users [usL read on Lhe slLe and
don'L parLlclpaLe soclally, havlng a core group of soclal users who are acLlvely
engaged ln our communlLy ls essenLlal Lo powerlng Lhe slLe and keeplng our
corpus of conLenL growlng and Lhrlvlng. A strong, act|ve commun|ty |s more
||ke|y to pub||sh and share qua||ty content, whlch resulLs ln more readers who
acLlvely publlsh and so on. ln facL, Lhere were more Lhan CD E&**&37 sharlng
evenLs on Scrlbd ln AugusL alone, we expecL Lhls number Lo lncrease slgnlflcanLly
wlLh Lhe redeslgn.

! Mak|ng the s|te soc|a| |ncreases the ways |n wh|ch content |s d|scovered and
d|str|buted, whlch ls Lhe #1 reason people publlsh on Scrlbd. Whlle ?ou1ube
makes shorL-form vldeos go vlral and 1wlLLer makes breaklng news go vlral,
Scrlbd has made courL flllngs, books, and even sclenLlflc papers go vlral. We're
clearly addresslng a need or a deslre for people Lo share Lhese oLher conLenL
Lypes.



Scr|bd kedes|gn 101
Scrlbd's new deslgn ls meanL Lo Lake all Lhese concepLs and package Lhem LogeLher lnLo
a slmpllfled deslgn LhaL encourages soclal lnLeracLlon. l'll hlghllghL Lwo lmporLanL
changes:

1nL ILLD: Scrlbd's feed ls acLually qulLe unlque. Whlle feeds on slLes llke lacebook and
1wlLLer focus on Lhe people ln your neLwork, Scr|bd's new feed br|ngs your fr|ends'
read|ng act|v|ty to the forefront. We use your neLwork Lo help surface Lhe conLenL LhaL
should appear ln your feed, Lurnlng your soclal neLwork lnLo a personallzed conLenL
recommendaLlon englne.

lor example, we've
changed Lhe homepage
and proflle pages from a
Lhree-column Lo a Lwo-
column layouL wlLh Lhe
conLenL and lLs evenLs
(publlshlng, commenLlng,
readcasLlng) Laklng cenLer
sLage. 1he documenL
Lhumbnalls are much
blgger, and Lhe feed lLself
ls more LargeLed, based on
Lhe acLlvlLy of your frlends
and oLher
recommendaLlon
algorlLhms. ln addlLlon,
we've made lL easler for
users Lo lnLeracL and share
conLenL lmmedlaLely from
Lhelr personallzed
homepage feed.



1nL SnLLI: Whlle Lhe cenLer of Lhe Scrlbd experlence ls a real-Llme, consLanLly changlng
feed, people sLlll value Scrlbd as a collecLlon of Lens of mllllons of books, magazlnes,
essays, presenLaLlons, and oLher wrlLLen maLerlal LhaL's accesslble Lhrough search or by
browslng caLegorles.

l llke Lo Lhlnk of Scrlbd's
corpus of conLenL as a deep
ocean, whlle Lhe feed ls llke
waves on Lhe surface (lL's Lhe
mosL lmmedlaLe and vlslble
parL), lL doesn'L have Lhe same
depLh. 1o help users keep
Lhelr bearlngs, we've
lnLroduced Lhe concepL of Lhe
shelf Lo help people vlsually
organlze Lhelr readlng and
publlshlng evenLs. Lvery user
has Lhelr own, unlque shelf |n
wh|ch content |s organ|zed |n
a more ||near fash|on. lL
presenLs conLenL ln vlrLual
shelves of uploads, 8eadcasLs,
collecLlons, documenL
purchases and so on.





1hese are only Lwo of Lhe many changes l'm exclLed Lo Lell you abouL Loday, Lhere are
many more planned ln Lhe nexL few weeks and monLhs! l hope you Lake a few mlnuLes
Lo Lry ouL Lhe new slLe. We - especlally Lhe amazlng deslgn and englneerlng Leam aL
Scrlbd who made Lhls launch happen (you know who you are!) - are very exclLed abouL
Lhls mllesLone and looklng forward Lo whaL's ahead. l hope you are, Loo.